HERE'S a piece that has been published at www.freelanceuk.com today:
FOR a freelance writer, ideas can make or break a career. As markets and budgets shrink and competition increases, it’s more crucial than ever to make your ideas stand out from the crowd. Linda Jones shows you how.
So you want to write for your favourite magazine and you are brimming with ideas – you’re a little disappointed that most of them – or something similar at least – has been covered already – but it’s still worth a shot, right?
Wrong. If you spot a piece in a target publication that bears any resemblance to the germ of an idea you have been slaving over – but too nervous to send – for days or even weeks then you need to change direction immediately. First pause a moment to congratulate yourself that you are on the right wavelength – then move on, pronto!
Either come up with a new angle to suit a different sort of market, or start again.
You have to find something that is different, new and fresh, but at the same time, relevant and newsworthy. How do you do that? Give your ideas the ‘so what?’ test
Think about what is so different about your idea, why is it current now? And why are you the one to write it? A general piece on ‘home education’ may not be deemed worth looking at, and could easily be researched and written in-house.
But a piece on home education with a cracking interview with a mum who refuses to send her son to school may be nearer the mark – especially if there has been a topical development. If there hasn’t, file your idea away until a piece of relevant research or celebrity or politician hits the headlines for such a course of action – then bam! Hit the commissioning editor where it matters.
You have to time it right. And I don’t mean pegging your piece on a forthcoming awareness day, week or month. How many times have I read that awareness weeks make great hooks for stories? Yawn. Too many. Beware. You can bet that if you know next month is bowel cancer awareness month, so will many other wannabe contributors. Again, what’s so very new and different about your angle?
Lead-in times for publications vary. Pitch a monthly with a Christmas type story in October, and you are marking yourself out as a fool. Pick up the phone and find out when the deadlines for copy are.
How then do you market your ideas? It all comes down to your chosen market. Study your chosen publications or online markets carefully and make sure you send them what they ask for – to the right person at the right time.
Should you send your pitches by phone or email?
Here I go again: It depends.
Editors are so busy now that they won’t take kindly to you ringing right on deadline to pitch an idea, however good it is.
Nor will they welcome a zillionth email chasing them over an idea you first sent just three days ago.
So what can you do? Finding out when they are most likely to be less busy, for a start. Yes it’s their job to look at freelance pitches (possibly) but please don’t moan if they don’t reply. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – they didn’t ask you to contact them, so why should they race to reply?
AS the long summer holidays are approaching, I'm winding this blog down for a few weeks. See you back in the autumn - and have a lovely time...
I WAS intrigued by this post from Neil Baker - with some engaging pros and cons on the merits or otherwise of reading your own copy once it's published.
I can't imagine not reading work once it's in print - but then I kept everything from my first letter in Smash Hits in a bag under the stairs for years...until it accidentally got thrown out. Oh well.
What do you think?
HERE'S a message I was forwarded by a contact from the editor of Real Travel magazine. I hope it may be useful to anyone whose ambitions lie in that field:
“All we really ask for when people send in their ideas to Real Travel is enthusiasm. That and a unique idea that stands out from the rest. The only ‘rules’ we have is that you’re talking about a trip taken within the last year, that you have a good selection of colour photos that we can use and that you’re passionate about the story you’re telling.
Start by sending us a 200-word summary of your piece, giving an idea of where you went and why you want to share it with others. Then, along with two or three photos, send it in and don’t forget to include your age and details of how to contact you.”
Check out the website and back copies for the sort of features they are looking for, plus relevant contact details.
I LED some training recently, with an energetic bunch of PR people at their beautiful offices. I set a challenge to write a press release about a new company bringing new jobs to a city. The press release was to go to regional media.
It was an interesting exercise to see what they came back with. Overall, the standard of writing was high - but some subtle and not so subtle changes were needed to make their press releases more effective.
The biggest trap they fell into was writing what on first sight, appeared to me, to be more suitable for an advertorial or commercial feature copy.
For example, one intro reported that the firm was 'celebrating' because of new jobs being created.
This was irrelevant and gratuitous PR puffery - it was fluffing up the story too much. In your intro you should say directly what has happened, remembering at all times that if someone has to read your intro twice to understand it, you have failed.
The same draft press release went on to say the jobs were a boost to the area. I pointed out that there was no attribution whatsoever. Who had said this and why? I suggested that to gain an insight of how true this was, the writer should contact the local Chamber of Commerce or Federation of Small Businesses.
My favourite touch was reading that the company 'delivered basement conversion solutions' in the release, rather than saying it converted basements. I advised the writer this would make reporters laugh, but I think I wasn't being harsh enough there really - it could possibly mean that it could end up in the bin.
Avoid these David Brentisms at all costs. Who likes such corporate gobbledegook? Your clients may, but journalists don't.
There were plenty of other little niggles, but it's the lack of attribution/research in the stuff about business 'booming' that really underlines the difference between a press release and a commercial feature or advertorial.
If you are writing a press release, you must make sure that what you are saying is not only 100 per cent accurate but also backed up by someone actually saying it. To do otherwise renders your copy useless.
Related posts: Click here for examples of press releases.
I'VE recently logged back in to Writethismoment.net and was thrilled to see this recommendation for my book on the members' notices page:
Linda Jones has recently published The Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World ... and the book certainly lives up to its name! Whether you've just started out as a writer or are firmly established into literary life, you'll find some really useful suggestions and insights that can make your freelance writing career easier and successful. Linda draws upon valuable experience and packs alot of sound advice into this little book, which is well worth the small investment of 6.99! Congratulations, Linda on writing such a useful publication!